Judiciary services went live in six pilot Huduma Centres on Monday.
Judicial desks at Huduma Centres will be manned by Judiciary staff, Public CS Moses Kuria has announced.
This comes after judiciary services went live in six pilot Huduma Centres on Monday.
They include Nairobi GPO, City Square, Makadara, Kibra, Eastleigh and Kiambu.
As a result, CS Kuria engaged with the judicial and Huduma officials in the meeting.
“Today, I met the Steering Committee led by Justice Kanyi Kimondo for an engagement on this new partnership between the Judiciary and Huduma Secretariat,” he said in a statement.
The CS announced that the judicial services will be rolled out to the rest of the 52 Huduma Centres across the country.
“The judicial services will later be rolled out in all Huduma Jitume Centres in the 290 constituencies once they are constructed under a partnership with MPs, the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy and my ministry,” Kuria said.
Some of the judicial services to be offered at Huduma Centre are filing of new civil cases, filing documents of existing cases and requests for and issuance of summons to enter appearance, notice to appear in divorce cases, extracted court orders, decrees, certified and uncertified proceedings, copy of ruling/judgement.
Also, request and issuance of mention dates, general case inquiries, e-filing support, payments of fines and deposits and virtual court support.
The move however faced some criticism as the Law Society of Kenya said there ought to have been consultation first before availing some Judiciary services at Huduma Centre.
LSK President Eric Theuri stated that the initiative should be halted to allow for stakeholders’ consultation.
“Such initiatives should not be introduced without adequate prior consultation. Chances that the initiative can be abused by masqueraders and increase avenues for unethical practices abound,” he said.
Despite acknowledging that such initiatives are helpful in cascading services to the public and enable ease of access, LSK Vice President Faith Odhiambo noted that they lack stakeholder input and consultation on the same.
She termed the lack of consultation as wanting and unacceptable.
“The Kenya Judiciary must ice this process forthwith until all stakeholders, including advocates, have been adequately involved,” Odhiambo said.
